Page 67 of Tangled Roses
Titus says sharply, “We must work together for answers. I will not rest until we know who was responsible. Until then, none of us are safe.”
I suddenly remember Ellie’s instruction and say quickly, “We should investigate the school in Switzerland where mama studied. I believe it is called Two Points.”
Titus relies. “Simeon is working on it now.” He sighs heavily. “We must wrap this shit up. The good news is the investors appear happier. Good work, Arman.”
I don’t react because I am just doing my job. It’s what I do. Keep the investors happy, so we continue to gain in power.
Before he cuts the call, I add, “I have another party to attend tonight. It may help.”
“Burning Roses?” He says with amusement, knowing how I hate that shit.
“No. It’s a fundraising event for the presidential candidate, Charles Kenricky.”
Titus laughs softly. “Have fun, Arman, and play nicely.”
I grin because playing nicely isn’t something we do, and he says gruffly, “Take care, brother. Keep in touch.”
He cuts the call, leaving me with a huge sense of homesickness. I love traveling, but my heart remains in Russia.
Since my father died, home has been a place of pain and dark memories and I long for the day when we had no worries. Not that I can ever remember a time when some shit wasn’t going down, but we were a family and dealt with it together. Our father steered the ship, and we were assured of his intentions, but since finding out he had a mistress and lived a separate life, I am second guessing everything and living with unease.
Nothing is the same anymore and yet through it all the unthinkable happened. Someone came into my life and I wasn’t prepared for how she blew my world apart.
CHAPTER 41
ELLIE
Life with Arman is certainly fast moving and after a day spent curled up on the couch in my sweatpants, I’m now dressed like a supermodel and sitting beside a man who appears to have stepped straight out of an aftershave campaign.
Arman has dark good looks that would corrupt an angel, and I am no exception. I’m still undecided if I prefer him dressed in a suit or naked. If I’m honest, I prefer him naked and inside me because then I have his full attention. He is the sort of man who commands a room when he enters it, and I doubt this evening will be any different.
“Where are we going again?” I ask, my hand clutching his with an intimacy that is alien to me.
“A fundraiser to raise funds for Charles Kenricky’s presidential campaign.”
“Kill me now.” I yawn loudly and he chuckles softly.
“You may change your mind when I tell you the name of his wife.”
“Go on.”
“Adele Kenricky, formerly known as Adele Heatherington.”
“Fuck!” I gasp out loud and he frowns.
“Language, Ellie.”
It makes me laugh. “You’re a strange one, Arman. You are so depraved in many ways and yet manners are important to you.”
“Of course. There is no point in dressing in the finest clothes, sampling the most expensive cuisine and living among the elite if your mouth betrays you. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they conduct themselves in public. In private, it’s another thing entirely.”
I roll my eyes. “A lady in public and a whore in private. Is that what you mean?”
His eyes glitter as he runs his hand along the split in my dress that stops just short of my thigh.
“You are no man’s whore, Ellie, but you are so fuckable I’m having a hard time controlling my raging libido around you.”
“Then don’t.” I swear every part of me is on fire just from one glance in his direction and he moves his hand higher, his fingers rubbing against the edge of my panties.